after baidu has been tested successful and reciced warm welcoming in their robotaxi service, the ride hialing giant decided to pack the past tech into services around 2026. This involves desinign innovating expiences and I was invovled as the leading UX designer, to propose the future direction of robotaxi expienice of China.
In 2024, Baidu has launched a robotaxi service called luobo. This received huge public ethusiam. This gave Didi a faith of pushing towards driverless taxies. The new project will be a innovating riding experience, exterior, interior, interactions, all specifically designed for robotaxies. I was inovled as lead UX designer, to propose the future direction
my mission is to setup the foundation of the rider expernice, and design the mobile and in-car screens to support the service. The designed expernice should be solid enough to get implemented in the near future, and also leave room for innovative updats.
and design the mobile and in-car screens to support the service.
We performed field research in Wuhan and Losangelos. The comparison between the findings indicates nuances of introducing robotaxi to China.
First is flexibility. To support the millions of people during communte, Wuhan had advanced iinfrastracutre on public transportation. This brings it vertial road structure, and a imbalanced city pattern (density towards transporatation stations).
(äøå¼ pptļ¼
wuhan has a more complex road conditions
In 2024, Baiduās driverless taxi started road testing in Wuhan and received wide enthuisiasm. This gave confidence expanding the service nationwide. I was involved in one of these projects, as a UX designer. My mission was to setup the foundation of the rider expereice, ensures feasibilty for near future implementation. I conducted field research, designed 20 HMI and 20 phone interfaces to support the service.
I personally conducted the field research in LA, and I conclude these 3 points that indicates the nuance of introducing the service to China, compaired to Unite states
First, is flexibility. Different from LA, Wuhan had advanced road infrastructure which support multi public transportion, and make the road condition complex. People in China are less rilited on driving, and the road condition for driving is less compofoble compared to a public transportation. Thus, I argue that the robotaix service in China is not a simple A to B solution, but a more private version of ābusā, and it provides more in the scnarios of communute, less like āpremiumā.
(show designs that are proof that it is a public bus)
(show pictures of pickup and drop off)
(show picture of essential and minimal experinice that addapte to peopleās daily life)
(explain for multi stop design wit pic)
(explain for the accessibility of voice assistant, show it is a silent trip, with rationale explained the advantages of robotaxi)
(explain the navbar design, such as why there is not speaker, because we want this system to adapt to all car system without knwoing whetehr it has permission to control the car éø£ē¬)
our competitorās research also proven this thought, as people slowly get used to the expeince instead of use heavy tech on it, especilly when it is positioned as a communite veechile. the position defines further design decisions, like interior: donāt leave seam and prevent liquid spill, easy to clean and change matriels fo the seat design, for exteror, use flat botteon easir for getting in.
Second, is customization. Chinaās ride hailing has been booming for more than 10 years at it has gone through wide discussion. The news once reported single femaleās concern when they ride along was once negatively impact the whole industry, and after that Didi has provided the customization selection in the phone app. Chinese people are more lean towards the benefits of nature and many of them would refuse to use AC at homes, thus it is important to provide customization options.
(show picture of phone app customization and design rationales, such as : chinese passengers use phone digit more often, etc)
The manager once douhbted this feature and he suggest me to move this feature after the car has been ordered, his reason is to not blurry the product position with any private vehicle. I insist to design this way, for two considerations. 1, to leave enough control to customers and give theme ability to create familair environment, so they feel more save inside the vehicle 2, to leave room for future integration. On the desgin wise, this hub could also be helpful to collect small controls, make user easier to navigate.
(show picture of the smart home designed hub and explain design rationales)
(show picture of the page after order when car comes and the button change)
Third is long term operation. The insight came from the market research that huge prombles is about lost and found and compalints about in-vehicle hygine.
(show picture and design rationale: I decided to incopoertae this feature in both car and phone app, allow riders to view the histroy )